From information from a very-reliable local resident near Spring Creek Lodge, Thompson Falls, MT:
"Jailbreaks" occur with some regularity at SCL (Melissa?? true???). The bounty used to be $500 per kid. It was raised to $1000 per kid in the last 6 months. This is an economically-depressed area, and the bounty money is very attractive. Police are not asked for assistance in retreiving the miscreants, as goon squads of WWASPS staff make up their own posse. In pursuit, these goons careen around the countryside, disregarding No Trespassing signs, destroying fencelines and freeing farm animals, demolishing outbuildings while "searching" for the missing livestock....er, children. Complaints to the local small-time county sheriff go absolutely nowhere. Either he is on the take from WWASPS, or, more likely, he is a small-time judicial official, in way over his head in taking on WWASPS. There have been valid complaints to the police/sheriff involved with these jailbreaks from SCL about stolen cars, trucks, and even boats...filed and forgotten.
This county is full of rural landowners, and disregarding the Law of the West about personal property and land rights is a big non-no. Ask the locals about the pit full of hazardous waste that SCL maintains. Ask the locals about the non-permitted bulldozing around SCL and the damage to waterways and roads. Ask the locals about the stories from former employees about tossing blindfolded kids off the bridge over the creek and telling them it is a cliff. But don't ask the person who answers the phone at the County Clerk's Office. She was quoted as telling a newspaper reporter something like, "They all seem like nice kids, and were wonderful picking up trash after our July 4th Parade".
It has been speculated that chasing runaways, at a seriously large charge to parents, is a good money-maker for the local WWASPS facility. Is escape promoted and encouraged?
